The Legend of Zelda: A Link to Magic
by I Am A Toad
Summary: Link Master is just a stereotypical twelve year old boy. Or at least he was, until a strange man from the desert arrived and kidnapped his sister. Now, along with his best friend and a girl he barely even knows (but knows he'll hate), he must embark on a quest - a quest not only to save his sister, but the entire world. Book One in the Link to Our World Trilogy.
1. Welcome to Aboda

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Zelda. If I did, the latest Nintendo Direct would've been about Zelda Wii U, not Pokemon. I also do not own the Song of Healing, because otherwise, all sad songs in the franchise would just be remixes of it. The only thing I do own are my OC's (oh no this story has non-canon characters we're all gonna die ahh)**

 **If you just came because you're interested, welcome aboard. If you came because I told you to in my other story, welcome aboard. All important info will be at the bottom. Except for one thing: My original characters are in no way self-inserts, and are based on characters from the _Zelda_ series.**

* * *

 _Prologue: Welcome to Aboda_

His body was glowing with an otherworldly green light – not the kind that one would have seen in a B-list 80's horror movie, but a soft, pleasant kind that reminded one of nature. His left hand burned, filling him with courage, and in that hand he held a gleaming sword, with an elaborately carved hilt with a golden crystal in the center.

Facing him was an absolute beast of a man – and perhaps _beast_ was the best way to describe him, as through the violent red light that shielded the man's body from the eye's gaze, he could swear he saw tusks emanating from his mouth. The man let out a wicked snarl. "You think you can stand up against me, Hero? Perhaps that is why you were not blessed with Wisdom."

He licked his lips, and assumed a fighting stance. "I know I can," he responded in a deep, confident voice that he knew was not his own.

The man uttered a sinister laugh. "Very well, then. Let's see what your Courage can do against a being of ultimate Power!" The man held out his hand, and from it, lightning spouted, traveling across the short distance between the two, and striking directly at his courageous heart.

He screamed in agony, and everything went black.

Link Master awoke with a start, clutching his chest and panting heavily. He looked at the digital clock he kept in his bedroom. It read _3:19_. Great. He still had five more hours until school started, and he knew from experience that there was no way he could get back to sleep after a nightmare, especially not _that_ nightmare. And that meant that he had to survive the boredom known as middle school with only five hours of sleep under his belt.

...Today was going to be simply peachy.

He didn't even bother to be quiet as he jumped out of bed, loudly popping several joints in the process. His only guardian, his grandmother, was quite possibly the heaviest sleeper in the known universe, and his evil nine-year-old sister, Aryll, was used to his early-morning outings by now and had begrudgingly accepted them as part of having an almost-teenager living in the household.

The very first thing he did was raid the kitchen for ground coffee beans. According to his friends, nothing started the day better than a steaming cup of coffee to get you awake. Link, however, wouldn't know, as the caffeine had never seemed to affect him. He stubbornly refused to give up, and brewed a fresh cup every morning.

While the coffee machine did its work, he shambled into his bedroom once more, and pulled off his blue lobster pajamas. He then threw on his favorite (and only) outfit – a plain, lime-green, long-sleeved T-shirt, and a pair of faded beige pants that were practically white. He looked in his mirror, even though he knew what he would see – the same boy with the same clothes and the same unruly, bright blonde hair that covered the same strange, pointed ears.

After a while of zoning out and doing absolutely nothing, the easily-recognizable aroma of coffee pierced Link's nose, signaling that the beverage was ready. He took the pot out of the machine, and poured the caffeinated drink into his mug that read, " _I Hate Mondays_ ". He took a long sip of the beverage and swallowed. He poured the rest into the kitchen sink. He didn't dislike the taste, but it wasn't exactly his cup of tea (or coffee).

He glanced at his grandma's antiquated clock – the kind that actually made you have to figure out the time, and worked out that it was about 3:45. (Or maybe 9:20, but that wasn't likely.) Either way, he still had at least four hours to kill before he set out for Aboda Middle School.

Link debated his options. On one hand, he could do any last-minute homework that he hadn't done the night before, but he was pretty sure none of his homework was actually due that day. ...Or maybe he was just forgetting. On another hand, he could watch recorded episodes of his guilty pleasure, _The Faces of Evil,_ for the entire time. He decided not to do that either. While he liked it for its... interesting story and above-average score, he had to admit that some of the story arcs seemed a tad contrived and that the acting was atrocious. He knew for a fact that several quotes from characters had been made infamous on the Internet via memes.

Finally, he decided on practicing his instrument, an odd blue ocarina that he had found hidden away in the attic. His grandmother had dismissed it as a "worthless doohickey" (and that was a direct quote) and allowed him to keep it. Upon closer inspection, he had found an odd indentation in it: a triangle, formed by three smaller triangles with one on top and two on the bottom. But that symbol held no meaning to him.

He took the ocarina out of its case, lent to him by his music teacher (who had let him use it in class despite ocarinas not being traditional band instruments), and began to work on his end-of-year project: a musical composition of his own. According to the teacher, whose name he could never really remember, it didn't have to be good, it just had to demonstrate an understanding of the basic concepts of music: notes, time signature, key signature, et cetera. Most students, he knew, just used this to get an easy A, but not Link. He had poured his heart and soul into the piece, and had arranged a soothing yet haunting melody that, despite having been invented by him, felt older than time itself. He called it the Song of Healing. As he played, he ran through the lyrics he'd come up with for it in his head:

 _Day to night, dark to light,  
Fall the sands of time.  
Let the years like the gears  
Of a clock unwind_

 _In your mind walk through time_  
 _Back to better days._  
 _Memories, like a dream,_  
 _Wash tears away._

 _Like a star in the sky,_  
 _Darkness can't reach you_  
 _Light the night, joy is light,_  
 _Till the new dawn._

 _Cast away your old face_  
 _Let go your spite,_  
 _With this mask I'll ask_  
 _To borrow your light_

Of course, nobody would ever actually hear the lyrics of his song, seeing as he couldn't exactly sing them and play the ocarina at the same time, but he still was quite proud of them. He played the song until he lost track of time – so much so that when Aryll woke from her slumber three hours later, he was still contentedly playing the piece.

"Link!" Aryll snapped, wanting his attention.

Link, being, well, Link, spun around wildly with a crazed look in his eyes. "What the-? Huh?" he rambled before coming to his senses. "Aryll? What are you doing up so early? And why's the sun up already?"

At that moment, Aryll realized what was going on. "Oh. My. Gosh," she said, feeling a smile begin to form in the corners of her mouth. "Did you really spend the entire morning playing that song of yours over and over again? Ha! That's _so cute_ , Big Brother!"

"Wait, what time is it!?" Link exclaimed all of a sudden.

"7:03 a.m.," Aryll responded matter-of-factly, struggling to keep a straight face.

Link's face briefly held an expression of shock, but he quickly masked it with an expression of fake smugness. "Oh. Well, I've only been playing for three hours of the morning then."

Aryll, despite being three years younger than Link, knew that he still was surprised at the time. Being the responsible younger sister that she liked to believe she was, she decided to remind him of his other early-morning duties. "Oh, by the way," she said, "it's your turn to make breakfast for Grandma. And you know she won't just settle for a dumb old bowl of cereal."

Link's eyes widened (he didn't even try to hide it that time) as he raced to the kitchen. Aryll just laughed behind him. If he didn't move his butt, Grandma would not be happy with him when she woke up.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later, Grandma Master made her presence known to the entire household – by loudly complaining about her back pains. After that, she slowly hobbled out of her room, surveying the scene that what once was a quiet, peaceful abode. Now, the entire house was a cluttered mess of sheet music, unfinished homework, and boy magazines that she wouldn't have dared to read when she was in _high school_. ("In my day," she'd say, "We looked at boys with their shirts _on_.")

Finally, her eyes settled on the table where a plate of bacon and eggs was waiting. Beside it stood her grandson, with a nervous expression plastered across his face. Inwardly, she sighed. She loved her grandchildren dearly, but Link was probably the laziest boy she'd ever met. He was lucky he had his sister to keep him in line, otherwise he would've gotten the scolding of a lifetime. Speaking of which, where was his sister...?

"Link!" she barked as she slowly sat down at the table.

The boy instantly snapped up. "Yes, Grandma?"

"Where's Aryll?"

Link's face morphed into a slightly amused smile. "Oh, she's outside, Grandma. Said she wanted to 'get a good look at the birds before everybody comes out and they fly away.'"

And that was the problem with her other grandchild. While she wasn't lazy like her sibling, she was unbearably energetic – unable to stand still for more than a second at a time. Which, as a result, also meant about five times as much work for her sweet, elderly grandmother.

"Link, get your sister."

As an alternative, it meant five times as much work for her bumbling oaf of a brother.

At this, Link groaned, but said nothing. Instead, he put on his favorite shoes, a pair of brown Vans, and went out the door, secretly reveling in the crisp spring air as he stood on the deck at the front of their house. He then turned his thoughts to finding his sister. He first checked their small backyard, as he wanted to breathe in as much of the air before going back inside, as he knew Aryll wouldn't be there. Seeing as she was, in fact, not there, he went back to the front of the house, and located the ladder that led to a treehouse his sister had dubbed "her lookout."

The interior of the lookout was bare, save for Aryll and the small group of birds she was playing with. It was interesting – his sister was the only person he knew that could not only approach a bird without scaring it away, but be able to touch it; to pet it. Birds seemed to trust her, and when ever she was around, the birds never flew away. As such, Link wasn't even surprised that when he cleared his throat to get his sister's attention, the birds held their ground.

Aryll turned around. "Oh, hey, Big Brother!" she greeted. "Why're you in my lookout?"

Link motioned back towards the house. "Grandma wants you back inside." He noticed something on her sundress. "...And is that bird poop on your dress?"

Aryll gazed at her dress. Sure enough, a dripping white spot was blotting out part of her hibiscus-patterned dress. She didn't seem too fazed by it, however. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't worry; it's fine," she reassured. She then turned to one of her birds, this one a seagull. "May I?"

For some reason, Link could have sworn he saw a faint, pale blue glow appear on his sister's pointed ears for a split second.

To Link's amazement, the seagull turned around, and didn't even flinch when Aryll plucked out one of its feathers and used it to wipe off the feces. Seeing his shocked expression, she asked, "What? Carl's molting." She then made to walk out of the lookout.

Link raised an eyebrow. "Carl? Seriously? You named your birds?"

Aryll paused as she went down the ladder, looking confused. "No," she said. "That's his name. He told me when we first met."

Link looked at her oddly, convinced she was crazy, before shrugging it off and following after her.

As they got in and kicked their shoes off, Aryll noticed Grandma staring intently at them. "Good morning, Grandma," she greeted in a conversational tone. Link did the same.

Grandma stared at them even more intently, before saying, "Good morning, dears." Brother and sister glanced at each other, before the old woman continued, "Oh, by the way, Link, you'd better hurry if you don't want to be late for school. I don't know what you and Aryll did up there, but it took even _longer_ than I'd anticipated."

It was then that Link noticed that Grandma had already finished her breakfast.

It was also then that Link remembered that Grandma took at least twenty minutes to eat her breakfast.

"Oh, shoot!" he cried. "You're right!" Without another word, he pulled on his shoes, slapped on his backpack, grabbed his instrument, and raced to the door when-

"Link," Grandma called. Link paused. "I love you. Bye." She then planted a big kiss on his cheek (the slobbery kind that only grandmothers can give).

Link discreetly wiped the spit off of his cheek, and said, "I love you too, Grandma! Bye!" He then sprinted out the door.

* * *

The township of Aboda was a small community – so small that it could almost be considered a village. Its population was only about 1,000 people, and even that was stretching it. It was built in a densely forested area somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Northwest, although it was right at the edge of the forest, and the ocean and plains were not far away.

Despite this, Link still knew very few people within his town. It was perhaps because of the fact that despite being in a rural forest town, school was still just school. And that meant all of the cliques and clubs and teams and all that were still very much a part of Aboda Middle School.

Link was just glad he wasn't in high school yet.

But that wasn't to say that he had no friends. Far from it, in fact. If he counted himself and didn't use his thumb, he could count all of his friends on one hand!

...In fact, he could see one of them right now, waiting at a stop sign that really only existed to impress what few visitors Aboda ever got, seeing as the entire town was only about three square miles large.

"Hey, Greenie!" Link called out, running over to greet him.

Of course, Greenie wasn't his actual name, but his real name (Sapiens Preston Forrester IV) was just a mouthful. Indeed, Greenie himself vastly preferred the nickname, which was based on his unhealthy obsession with the color green. Indeed, everything about him was tinted some shade of the color. He had emerald-green eyes, and his long, yet straight hair was an almost unnatural shade of neon yellow-green. His attire only accentuated that, with a forest-green T-shirt, beige pants with neon-green highlights around the pockets, and lime-green shoes with olive-green socks. Once, he had even tried green clip-on earrings for his pointed ears, but that hadn't worked out too well.

But the obsession with the color green was not the oddest part about him. Nor was it his slender, pointed ears. Rather, it was the fact that he had never grown a single inch ever since he was nine years old. In other worlds, he was really short, and really juvenile-looking due to the fact that he also still had the face of a nine-year-old. But that didn't faze him, and sometimes, it seemed as though he even enjoyed being a foot shorter than most of his classmates.

And it certainly didn't affect his friendship with Link.

"Hey, Link!" he greeted cheerfully, showing off a gap left by a baby tooth he'd lost two years ago. "How has your day been?"

As Link caught up with him and they began to walk down the empty street, he responded, "Well, I woke up at three in the morning, played my ocarina for three hours, and then had to make breakfast for Grandma before she woke up. Also, my sister thinks she can talk to birds."

"So basically, a completely average day for you?" Greenie joked.

"Yup," Link replied. "So, how's your song going?"

"Oh, I already finished," Greenie said. Like Link, Greenie played the ocarina. "But you're not allowed to hear it until music class."

"Oh, but Greenie..." Link fake-pouted. Greenie chuckled, and they went on like that for a few minutes, talking about nothing in particular.

That is, until they were interrupted by another buddy of theirs.

"Hello, Link! Hello, Greenie!" came the polite voice of their friend Melody Rooste.

They both turned around to face her. Everything about her could be summed up as being small. Despite being only half an inch shorter than Link, she appeared a lot smaller, due to her petite frame and meek personality. Even her red hair, despite being tied into a flowing ponytail, appeared small. Her skin was extremely pale, giving the impression of a china doll. She wore a simple blue sleeveless dress that extended to her knees. She had large red eyes, and a rather substantial nose, which almost made her look kind of like a bird. In her hand she held a case for her prized lyre, which had been a parting gift from her tutor in her old town of Dragon's Roost. She, too, had pointed ears.

"Hey, Melody," the two responded at the exact same time.

The small girl giggled at that as she fell in line with Link and Greenie. "I'm willing to bet that you two had that planned, didn't you?" Melody asked in between random chortles.

"Yes," the boys replied.

"So, um, anyways..." Melody began, unsure of how she should phrase her sentence. She was a shy girl, and not one to rush into things. That was what her friends were for. "...I-I was wondering if... you would... like to hear my... song?" She ended with a squeak.

"Yeah! Of course we do!" Greenie replied enthusiastically. "I bet it'll be awesome! Maybe even better than mine... Nah!"

Link couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's undying optimism. In a way, his best friend reminded him of his sister, except that Greenie, unlike Aryll, didn't have any weird bird powers, and wasn't evil.

Melody's cheeks turned a deep red hue. "You really think so?"

"Sure!" exclaimed Greenie. "And even if it's terrible, it'd still probably be better than Link's!"

Link nodded empathetically. "I must admit, there is a high probability that that statement is correct," he said in what he perceived to be a British accent. "Probably, like, 60% or something," he stated, reverting back to his normal voice.

"I'd say that there's at least a 75% chance," inserted a new voice. Link couldn't help but let out a yelp at the sight of the final person in his friend group, Leif Greene, walking right beside him.

Leif, following in the tradition of his friends, was short. Granted, he wasn't as short as Greenie, but like Greenie, he hadn't grown one bit in a long time. But instead of nine, he made to the ripe old age of ten and a half before his growth hit a roadblock. Like the others, he had pointed ears, although his were rather stout (like the rest of him), and were mostly hidden by his thick, rounded glasses, which were a dark shade of green. He wore an oversized camouflage-print sweather, which complemented his chocolate-colored skin nicely. He had a single tuft of chocolate-brown hair spouting upwards out of his head; due to its coloration, it was near-impossible to tell where his head ended and his hair began. In his hand he held a case for his violin.

"Oh, hiya, Leif!" Greenie greeted excitedly. "How's your day going?"

"Well, aside from the fact that I'd been walking with you for nearly _three minutes_ before one of you noticed me, I'm doing _great,_ " Leif spat dryly.

Link cringed at that. He knew that unlike Melody, who made sure that she wouldn't be offending anyone when she spoke, Leif was more apt to voice whatever thoughts came into his mouth, without thinking of the consequences.

Fortunately, Greenie either didn't notice the clear bitterness or didn't care, as he smiled warmly and said, "Wow, that's great!"

Leif rolled his eyes, but Link could see that he was struggling to hide a smile.

"So," Link addressed his friends, "does anybody have anything they'd like to complain loudly about before we get to school?" He was asking this because it was a ritual between the four of them to talk about their problems before school, instead of during it. After all, Aboda was such a small community that if just one stranger heard what you were talking about, the entire town would know.

…And more importantly, the entire school would know.

At this, Greenie shook his head vigorously, and Melody's cheeks turned at least ten times as red. The only one who actually spoke, however, was Leif.

...Of course it would be Leif.

"I do," he proclaimed loudly. "So, you know how my family is, like, super into gardening? Well, as it turns out, now my brothers have started this project to 'spread the forest' or something."

"That sounds a little... silly," Melody commented. "Don't we live right next to the woods?"

"Exactly!" he cried. "So anyways, I told them that, and they looked at me like I was crazy! And my dad isn't being much help, either. All he ever does is sit there and talk to whoever is closest to him. Who, now that my brothers are doing their weird tree thing, just so happens to be me! I've literally had to hide in my _closet_ to be able to practice my violin without him hearing me and calling me over to talk."

The others nodded, knowing how much of a pain Leif's father, Deku Green, could be. He was a giant of a man with a rather wooden demeanor, in terms of the way he moved. Despite that, he loved to talk for hours on end, usually reminiscing about the past.

Leif probably would have spent the rest of the walk complaining, had it not been for the fact that at that point, they had already reached their destination: a horrifying place filled with torture and misery, one that humankind had dreaded for the past two millennia: Aboda Middle School.

...Link was pretty sure that his school wasn't two thousand years old, but with the amount of cobwebs in that building, he'd never know for sure.

* * *

Aboda Middle School was a stylized building, meaning that it was one of the ugliest places Link had ever seen. It was supposed to look like a medieval castle, but it looked more like a prison – what with the colorless bricks, and the guard towers that were actually occupied. Not to mention the imposing, barbed-wire fence that had been put up a few years back.

Link sighed as he and his friends entered the building. On the inside, the school looked cheery enough – it was painted a sickeningly sweet shade of yellow, and there were bulletins everywhere, filled with students' work. Its students, however, were another matter altogether. Like most young people suffering from the horror that is known as puberty, they looked for outlets on which to expend their excess angst and inner turmoil. Unfortunately, one of those outlets just so happened to be Link.

As he passed through the hallway, Link could feel people staring at him already. Or more specifically, his pointed ears. Despite the fact that the doctor had always just insisted that it was an extremely rare genetic deformity, which was what Link had always told those who mocked him for it, nobody believed it – not even Link. After all, if it was extremely rare, why would there be so many unrelated people in Aboda with that same affliction?

Beside him, he could see Melody's cheeks getting redder and redder every second, and he could feel Leif tense up. The only one who seemed oblivious was Greenie, who was ignorantly sauntering down the corridor.

In fact, Greenie was probably the reason that Link wasn't bullied anymore than a few stares and petty insults. Greenie was simply one of those people who brought out someone's soft side simply by being near them, and even the biggest, baddest bully wasn't immune to that effect.

Before Link could think too hard about the implications of that kind of power, however, the bell rang, signaling that the kids had five minutes to get to class, and Link found himself sucked into the tide of students.

* * *

 **A/N: So, like I said, welcome aboard. I'm really excited for this story, and I've had it in my head for the _longest_ time. So, here's a few important notes about the story:**

 **-While I don't know exactly how many chapters this story will have, I do already have at least ten dungeons planned. Maybe more.**

 **-This is going to be the first in a trilogy of stories.**

 **-Updates will be sporadic, so expect chapters... whenever.**

 **-So, important note for my OC's: They're basically just Zelda characters with different names, and humanized. This is due to the fact that the Sages' names in ALBW were different than the ones in OoT, seeing as they're descendants, and not reincarnations. I'm applying the same formula here, so any OC's can and will play a part later on.**

 **-The games I'm using as inspiration for this one are mostly OoT and WW.**

 **-Did I mention that this isn't a High/Middle School AU? BECAUSE IT'S NOT.**

 **So yeah, if you have any comments or suggestions about anything (related to this story) be sure to leave a review!**

 **(By the way, Zelda's appearing next chapter, 'kay?)**

 **~I Am A Toad**


	2. Enter Zelda

**Thanks to Ryol, hylianofthewoods, and thebasementdweller for following, to King of 2211 for favoriting, and to Undertario for favoriting and reviewing! (As a quick note, I'll be responding to all reviews at the top of the chapter.)**

 **Undertario: Thanks for the compliment! It's people like you who inspire me to try to crank out chapters faster. Not that I actually managed that, but... still. :)**

 **DISCLAIMER: If I owned Zelda, why would I be writing fanfic about it?**

* * *

 _Chapter II: Enter Zelda_

Link's first class was probably his least favorite, out of all of the excruciatingly painful ones to choose from: language arts. It wasn't that he was _bad_ at it, he just... wasn't very good at it.

...In other words, he sucked at it. He just didn't see the point in having to read books that were, by his calculations, about two billion years old, and then having to write essays about them. He suspected that the fact that he didn't actually care about the subject _probably_ contributed to his bad marks in the class. Plus, his limited attention span meant that whenever he actually did have a smidgeon of interest in what was being taught, it was quickly lost in the void that was his troubled, pubescent head. Not to mention, this was the only class he didn't have any of his friends in.

On the other hand, today looked like it might be different than the normal routine, as there was a head he didn't recognize in the confines of the classroom. Its owner, Link assumed, would be introduced as soon as the rowdy class was settled in their assigned seats.

Sure enough, as the bell rang and the chatter slowly but surely died away, the teacher, Mr. Shad, a young man (he'd probably started teaching as soon as he'd gotten out of college) with pale skin and neat, auburn hair, stood up. "Class, before we begin, I would like to introduce Miss Zelda Nohansen."

The new girl turned around, and Link got his first good look at her. She was slightly taller than him, and had straight, bright blonde hair that reached down to her hips. It was held away from her face by a shiny yellow headband adorned with sparkling red gems. Around her neck was a large necklace made of spherical, red objects, which complemented her fair skin and periwinkle-blue eyes nicely, in addition to her lip gloss. She wore a hot pink, sleeveless shirt that wrapped around her neck, and her skirt, which extended to slightly above her knees was lavender, with a blue zigzag pattern near the bottom. Both wrists wore gleaming bracelets, and for a moment Link actually thought they were made of gold. She wore red ballet flats on her feet that were covered in glittering pink rhinestones.

But Link barely noticed all of that, as he was focused on one aspect of her in particular: her ears. Hanging from each were two earrings, which were shaped like miniature wings and had fancy designs etched into them, but he wasn't interested in that, either. He was staring at the shape of her ears: rounded at the bottom, but ending in a wickedly sharp point. Subconsciously, Link's hand went to his own ear.

However, his musings were interrupted as Zelda quickly whipped around and whispered furiously into Mr. Shad's ear. The teacher's eyes darted around the room, and he cleared his throat. "Err... I apologize. What I meant to say was... presenting the lovely Ms. Zelda Harkinian Nohansen XLVIII. We are pleased to be in her service while she stays here in our humble village, and apologize deeply if we are ever unable to provide her with the attention and services she requires. So... I'll just... randomly select an ambassador for..." Zelda shot him a glare. "...Her Majesty...?" Mr. Shad ended his sentence with a pathetic squeak.

Link rolled his eyes, instantly realizing what type of person Zelda was – the spoiled kind that threw a tantrum if even the slightest thing went wrong in their very important life, because if they didn't get what they wanted, the entire world was ending.

...Yeah. She was one of _those_ people. Link sent his deepest condolences to whoever would be unfortunate enough to be her guide for the day – someone with an identical schedule to hers, presumably.

Mr. Shad's voice once again cut through his thoughts. "How about... Link Master?"

Link's eyes widened, and he felt the cold feeling of dread sink into his stomach. This couldn't be happening. Oh, dear Neptune, this couldn't be happening. There was no way that _he_ had just been chosen to be around _Zelda_ for the entire day. He pinched himself, in a futile attempt to wake himself from the nightmare he was surely having. He'd rather have _died_ than experience the torture that this day would surely be.

But it was one hundred percent real, and Link felt a monumental headache come upon him the moment Zelda slid into the empty seat next to him that he's somehow neglected to notice before. But before he could even voice his discomfort, Zelda did for him.

More specifically, she took one quick glance at him, and wrinkled her nose like he'd just slithered out of the slimiest hole of slimy slime in the entire universe. She then sat down in her seat – somehow making that simple action seem graceful, bratty, and disgusted all at the same time.

...This was going to be a long day.

The rest of the class went by rather uneventfully, although when Link tried to introduce her to the work that he was doing, she promptly turned away and started tapping on her phone. Surprisingly, Mr. Shad didn't do anything about it, and it wasn't just because he didn't notice, Link assumed as he saw the rather impressive wad of green paper in the teacher's back pocket. No wonder Zelda wasn't doing anything – she'd probably just paid Shad to give her A's on every assignment.

Soon enough, though, the class was over, and Link was faced with a new challenge: getting Zelda up out of her seat. While everybody else had left long ago, Zelda stubbornly refused to move, continuing to swipe away on her phone.

"Zelda, we have to get to our next class," Link grunted.

No response.

"Come on," Link tried again.

Still nothing.

"We're going to be _late_ if you don't get your butt of of this chair," Link insisted.

Zelda blew back a strand of hair that had escaped her headband, but still didn't reply.

Link huffed in defeat. "You know, I really doubt that she can bribe Coach Ashei to excuse her for being late no matter how much money she offers," he muttered to himself.

Abruptly, Zelda stood up, put her phone away, and stomped towards the doorway. "Fine," she grumbled.

As he passed her in the doorway, Link swore he could _feel_ her glare penetrating his skull. It was not a comfortable feeling.

* * *

The next class was gym, coached by a former mountain guide named Ashei. She was tough on her students, to say the least, but Link liked her, even if she'd hated him at first. As Link and Zelda arrived, a thought suddenly occurred to Link.

"Do you have a gym uniform?" he asked the spoiled young girl.

Zelda stared at him, as though it was a surprise to her that Link could say words with more than two syllables. Finally she scoffed, "For your information, I don't need a gym uniform. I have two things that are even better: influence and money."

"Well, I'll be in the boys' locker room," Link told her. "Coach Ashei's in the girls' room, by the way. I doubt you'll be able to weasel your way out of _this_ class." He then ran off with a smug grin on his face, believing every single word he's just said to be true.

Unfortunately, Link was proven wrong once more, as a good five minutes after the bell rang, Zelda and Coach Ashei emerged from the locker room, with Zelda's clothes just as expensive as ever. However, upon closer observation, Link saw that Ashei had no large sums of money, only anger, as her face was redder than a sunburnt beet.

Seeing Link's bewildered expression, Zelda sauntered up to Link, and told him, "Like I said, in addition to money, I also have influence."

Link gritted his teeth. Zelda was getting on his nerves even more than he thought she would.

"Alright, class!" Coach Ashei yelled, getting everyone's attention. "We have a new student today! Her name is Zelda Nohan..." Zelda shot her a cold glare, and pointed menacingly to her phone. The coach took a deep breath, and counted to three. "I mean... presenting the lovely Ms. Zelda Harkinian Nohansen XLVIII. We are eternally grateful to be graced by her presence, so much so that instead of our normal activities, today we will construct a chair for Her Gracefulness to sit in for the rest of the year." At this point, Ashei's face was an entirely new shade of red. It was so red that Link's eyes hurt from looking at it. Without another word, she motioned the class to the supply closet.

As Link passed by Zelda in the crowd of students, she whispered to him, "Influence," before swaggering off.

Right as she left, Link looked around, and located Greenie in the crowd – Melody and Leif had gym in first period, and weren't there.

As soon as Greenie caught sight of Link, he immediately asked the question that Link was sure everybody in the class had: "So... what the heck just happened?"

Link grimaced. "As it turns out," he informed his friend, "Zelda happens to be a rich and snotty brat. I should know, seeing how I have to be her guide."

Greenie nodded empathetically. "I feel so sorry for you. But," he continued, "I'm sure that you can make friends with her if you try hard enough. There's good in everyone, after all!"

Link raised an eyebrow in disbelief. He highly doubted that after meeting Zelda.

The supply closet, for some odd, inexplicable reason, had an entire mountain of wood planks tucked away in one of its considerably large corners, in addition to other random construction materials, which included power drills, nails, hammers, and the like. Grumbling, the class slowly shambled towards the pile, and began hauling the wood outside, until Link, Greenie, and Zelda were the only students left in the room.

Seeing his reluctance to move, Zelda zeroed in on him. "Get to work, _Link_ ," she sneered, scrunching her face as she said his name. "After all, that throne is _not_ going to build itself."

Link rolled his eyes, but moved toward the now much smaller pile of wood. Greenie, however, walked confidently to Zelda and held out his hand. "Hi," he greeted. "My name's Greenie. How are you doing today?"

Zelda stared at the elvish boy's hand bemusedly, before gripping it with her own and shaking it firmly. "I am doing well, thank you." She then strode out the door.

Greenie smiled brightly at Link. "Well, that went well!" He proceeded to pick up a smaller piece of wood and heave it out the door, leaving Link to gape at the spot where he had exited.

Second period flew by in a blur, but once Coach Ashei called them back to the locker rooms, Link had about two hundred new splinters and a thousand more cramps. Surprisingly, Greenie had come out of the ordeal completely unscathed, with not a single splinter piercing his much softer skin. In fact, Greenie was probably the reason they had made any progress with Zelda's so-called "throne" at all. Even _with_ the blueprints that Zelda had somehow provided, Greenie was the only one who understood how to work with the rigid wood at all.

Link walked out of the boys' locker room, and found both Zelda and Greenie waiting outside, which was very odd. He whispered to Greenie, "How are you standing next to Zelda without her walking away in disgust?"

Unfortunately, it appeared that Link was not a good whisperer at all, as Zelda instantly snapped at him, "Unlike the other filthy creatures at this school such as yourself, Greenie here actually displays signs of intelligence, and, even better, politeness!"

"Uh, I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, but I'll accept it anyway!" Greenie exclaimed.

Link rolled his eyes, which he found he was doing a lot today. "Come on, you two. Unlike Zelda here, I do not actually have the ability to get out of being late." He then proceeded to grab both of their wrists (Zelda looked like she was going to be sick), and dragged them to their third period class: science.

* * *

There was only one way to describe Dr. Mizumi, the science teacher, and that was completely and utterly horrifying. He back was hunched so much that Link was surprised his face wasn't touching the floor, and his eyes, which seemingly had minds of their own as they moved independently of one another, bulged out of their sockets, which accentuated his disgusting, droopy face and horrid underbite quite grotesquely. If Zelda had looked like she was going to vomit before, she definitely was going to vomit now, as the elderly scientist hobbled over.

...Link didn't blame her.

"Ah, a new student," he screeched in his awful, grating, high-pitched voice. "I assume she is with you, Mr. Master?" Before Link could respond, Dr. Mizumi continued, "Good. I've been meaning to assign you and your group another partner for the lab we're doing today. She can sit next to Miss Rooste."

Link led Zelda to their table, where Melody was already seated, along with a small tank of water and a bunch of weird instruments (one of them actually appeared to be a musical instrument).

"Hello, Link," the petite girl said politely. "Who is that with you?"

"Melody, meet Zelda," Link introduced, resisting the urge to grit his teeth at Zelda's name.. "Zelda, this is Melody."

Melody reached out and shook Zelda's hand sincerely. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

Zelda's face lit up with what could be called delight. "Link," she whispered in a way that could almost be considered familiar, but not friendly, "I had no idea that a filthy animal such as yourself could associate with those with any sort of culture." She sat down after that, seeing that Dr. Mizumi was about to start.

The professor cleared his throat, and began his lecture. "As some of you may recall, yesterday we learned about the recent discovery of groups of eggs laid by an unknown creature. These eggs have an unusual property that causes them to react when certain frequencies are played in specific orders. Now, as a patron of the sciences, I went and purchased about a hundred of these eggs for my students to experiment on. Now, I will pour seven eggs into each of your tanks, and the first group to get a reaction out of them will get a candy bar." He held up an oddly-shaped bar of chocolate, labelled " _Piece of Heart_."

That certainly got everyone's attention, and as Mizumi wove through the chattering students, pouring eggs into every container, Link asked Zelda, "So, how come you aren't bribing and/or threatening this teacher?"

"I have no need to bribe a _science_ teacher," Zelda scoffed. "Not when I can just ride on the coattails of my lab partners," she said, lowering her voice so that Melody and Greenie couldn't hear her.

Link rolled his eyes, but kept his mouth shut as Dr. Mizumi gave them their eggs, which were even stranger looking than he'd expected. They were a light shade of blue, with cyan patches scattered on the egg. They were also incredibly large, for fish eggs.

"Okay," Melody said, "let's try to figure out what we have to work with."

Link looked at the equipment skeptically. "All I see is a bunch of audio equipment, and a mini-guitar."

"Actually," Greenie corrected, "it's a ukulele."

"Eh, po-tay-to, po-tah-to," Link dismissed. "What matters is which one will help us get that sweet chocolate."

"Well," Zelda interjected, "we can rule out the ukulele, as Dr. Mizumi mentioned 'frequencies,' not 'notes.'" When Link looked at her strangely, she defended, "Do you think that simply because I am well-to-do means that I cannot enjoy chocolate?"

And so, the next half-hour resulted in failure as the group used every single tool at their disposal, except for the ukulele. (Although, they did manage to somehow detonate a floppy disk after Link and Zelda got into a fight.)

"I just don't get it," Melody muttered. "Maybe we haven't been using the right frequencies, or in the right order...?"

Meanwhile, Link had fallen asleep, and Zelda was trying to boil the eggs with her glare. Greenie, on the other hand, was looking with interest at the ukulele, and gingerly picked it up.

"Cool," he said, holding it in his hands. He plucked a few notes, getting a feel for the instrument, and began to improvise a simple tune.

To his surprise, however, the water in their tank began to rumble slightly. He quickly shook Link awake, and the four watched with amazement as the eggs began to uncurl, taking the forms of tadpoles that almost looked like musical notes. Within seconds, they had arranged themselves as though they were written on a piece of sheet music, and Link could have sworn he saw wispy staffs being formed in the water. They then began to release different notes into the water at different times, until eventually they were playing Greenie's improvised song.

At this point, everyone in the class was watching, some in amazement, and others with jealousy. "Well," said Dr. Mizumi, "I think it's clear which group deserves my Pieces of Heart." He tossed them a candy bar each. Just then, the bell rang, and the class rushed outside, eager for lunch, leaving behind Mizumi and the singing tadpoles.

* * *

"So," Link informed Zelda, "it's lunchtime now, so feel free to ditch us while we have our peace and quiet."

The girl shook her head. "Now, why would I do that? Sure, if it was just you, I _would_ abandon you without hesitation, but your acquaintances actually do have a smidgeon of culture, and I would not like to go looking around campus for those who are the same."

"Oh, come on, Link," Greenie exclaimed. "Zelda's not even that bad at all!"

"Seriously, people?!" Link protested. "Melody, help me out here!"

Melody softly shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see why she shouldn't join us."

"Why who shouldn't join us?" Leif, who had _again_ arrived without anyone noticing, interjected.

Zelda turned around to face the bespectacled boy. "Ah. I don't believe we have met."

"My name's Leif. What's your's?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"I am Zelda," she replied shortly, gripping his hand. "Your... friend... is guiding me today."

"Oh, so you have math after this?" Leif asked, to which Zelda nodded. "Cool. Link and I have that, too."

"Speaking of math," Link interrupted, "did you study for the test today?"

"Absolutely not," Leif responded. "I just don't see the point in studying when I already can remember all of it. The real question is: did _you_ study, Link?"

"Uh... no," Link murmured, suddenly very interested in a patch of blackened, dried gum on the ground.

"Oh, right," Leif said dryly, "I forgot that you never study because you're too lazy to ever do it."

"What?" Link defended. "Mr. Banker gives me A's in everything besides tests, so it's not like it'll matter!"

"Yeah," Leif countered, "but what will your grandma say when she finds out you bombed the test? Or even worse, what will Aryll say?" When Link didn't respond, Leif took that as a cue to grab him by the arm and start pulling him to their math class.

"Wait," Link cried. "I still need to eat! I'm a growing boy! Greenie! Melody! Zelda! Anyone! HELP ME!"

Greenie and Melody didn't respond, but at least they looked a little guilty about it. Zelda, on the other hand, merely grabbed his other arm and helped Leif in dragging him to the classroom.

"What are you doing? Don't help him!" Link shrieked.

Zelda rolled her eyes and said, "I would like to gauge how much I will have to pay this 'Mr. Banker' for him to excuse me from every single task. Also," she added, "it's very fun to watch you blunder around like the buffoon you refuse to admit you are."

Soon enough, they had arrived at Mr. Banker's class. Mr. Banker was one of the few teachers to let students into his classroom at lunch, but due to his... unfortunate quirks, barely anyone ever showed up. For one thing, Mr. Banker was very outspoken and got angry easily, especially when people messed up at his awful word problems. Not to mention, he made insensitive comments about everything, from people's clothing to their age. He also had two very odd obsessions: bottles and money. In fact, he kept several bottles of money on his desk, and often shook them when he thought no one was listening. It was weird, but Link wasn't judging.

...Oh, wait. He totally was, which he had informed his captors of while he was pulled to the teacher's classroom.

"Hi, Mr. Banker," Leif greeted as they walked through the doorway. "We're going to borrow a textbook, okay?" He then grabbed one without waiting for the teacher's response.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, little guy," Mr. Banker murmured, barely looking up from the cash he'd laid out on his desk. When he did, however, his eyes zeroed in on Zelda. "Heh... who's this pretty little lady with you today? She wouldn't happen to be in my class for the rest of they year, would she?" He leaned in closer to her, and a worrying smile adorned his face.

Zelda looked appalled that her teacher had possibly been hitting on her, but when she looked to the two boys for help, they simply shrugged. That was the way Mr. Banker was: patronizing towards boys, and perverted towards girls. Honestly, Link wasn't sure why he hadn't been fired yet.

Looking sick, Zelda approached the teacher warily, while Leif opened up a textbook to a page about the Pythagorean Theorem or something. Link didn't really care, but Leif still forced him to sit down and listen to him.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later, and Link still had no idea what anything in the textbook meant. At that point, Zelda was also trying to help, as apparently she would rather be actually doing work than have to ever talk to Mr. Banker again, but she was getting no further than Leif had.

"I just don't get it," Link said for the forty-second time (Leif had counted). "How can a2 + b2 = c2, when that doesn't make any sense? Like, if my _a_ equals 3, and my _b_ equals 5, and my _c_ equals 8, that wouldn't work, because 9 plus 25 doesn't equal 64."

Zelda let out an exasperated sigh. "Do you have any knowledge of algebra or geometry at all? You are solving _for c_. If you already know _c,_ then you will either be solving for _a_ or _b_."

"For example," Leif interjected, if we do 32 + 52 = c2, then that means that 9 plus 25 equals the square root of 34, or about 5.83."

Link stared at the two of them blankly. "But... 3 plus 5 doesn't equal 5.83..."

Before Zelda could slap him for his ignorance, the bell rang, and a steady crowd of students filed in as Mr. Banker handed out the test. He felt faint as he realized that the test had forty questions, all of which involved the Pythagorean Theorem.

...This was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Fifty-six minutes later, and Link was walking out of the classroom with several bruises on his forehead from banging it against the table so much. The only positive was that he had managed to copy a decent amount of answers from Leif when he wasn't looking, so he knew he was going to at least get a D. Unfortunately for him, Zelda, who had finished within ten minutes, had caught him, and threatened to rip his test in half if he did it again.

 _At least,_ he thought, _the rest of the day will be easy._ As he, Zelda, and Leif strolled into their fifth period music classroom, he audibly sighed with relief. It was no secret to anyone, really, that music was his favorite class of the day, and it was simple to see why. Due to the fact that they were nearing the due date of their project, the teacher, Mrs. Anjean, a kind old lady who played the pan flute, let the students do whatever they wanted, as long as they practiced their songs. In addition, she let the students play whatever instrument they wanted to, regardless of whether it was a wind instrument or string instrument. It didn't even have to be a traditional symphonic instrument – one of the students played the electric guitar. Of course, that was probably also because the school's budget was too limited to actually have separate band, orchestra, and choir classes.

Link located Melody and Greenie, who had arrived earlier due to the fact that their literature classroom was closer to the music room. "Hi, guys," he greeted as Leif took his seat next to Melody, and Zelda went over to Mrs. Anjean.

"Hey, you two," Greenie replied cheerfully. "Hey, Link. Are you ready to play us your song?"

"Yeah, Link," Melody chimed in. "I'd very much like to hear it."

At that moment, Zelda sat down next to Link. "Oh, yes," she said. "I, too, would like to hear what kind of song someone like you would come up with."

With all of his friends (and his irritating shadow) looking at him expectantly, Link had no choice but to pull out his ocarina and begin his song. He made sure to play it faster than normal, because otherwise he was sure he'd probably collapse from the embarrassment of having to play in front of them in the first place.

However, he made it through, and by the end of the song, he was finally able to gauge each of their reactions. Melody and Greenie, both of whom were more emotional than most, looked close to tears. Leif looked thoroughly blown away, and was applauding slowly. Zelda looked mildly impressed. "It was very good," she conceded, "but it would have sounded much better if it were on the piano, and if it were played at a slower pace." After this, her cheeks reddened as if she'd done something mortifying, and she quickly added, "Not that I'd expect a peasant like you to understand."

Melody, ignoring Zelda's criticism, told Link, "Well, I think that your song was sublime, Link." Greenie and Leif nodded their assent.

"Well," Link said, "if my song is so good, then I'd like to hear you guys's songs."

"Ooh! Ooh! I wanna go first!" Greenie zealously volunteered. No one stopped him, so he quickly grabbed his ocarina, which unlike Link's was sandy brown in color, and began to play right away. His song was childlike, innocent, and whimsical all at the same time, which befitted Greenie's personality perfectly. In addition, Link could have sworn that he saw the potted plants Mrs. Anjean kept in the room swaying in time with Greenie's song, but he must've imagined it.

It was only after Link finished pondering over that phenomenon that he realized that the first three notes of Greenie's song were the same as the first three notes of _his_ song, just in a reversed order. It wouldn't have been that significant, except that in both of their songs, the first three notes were repeated a lot. He voiced this concern to Greenie, who smiled and said, "Wow, it's funny how coincidences like that happen, huh?"

"So," Link told Melody and Leif, "we still have you two to get through. Who wants to go first?"

Leif avidly shook his head, which prompted Melody to mutter, "Well, I guess I'm going first," as she pulled out her lyre. In a more audible voice, she informed them, "Just so you know, I still haven't exactly worked out all of the kinks in my song." Quietly, she murmured, "I suck at 6/8 time, after all."

Taking a deep breath, she began to quietly strum at her instrument. It was an elegant song, but it also felt... powerful, in a way. Link could almost feel the earth rumble beneath his feet as she played. It had a few flaws in its timing, but other than that, Link was quite impressed. He and the rest of the group applauded politely.

"Well, I suppose that leaves me, then," Leif grumbled. He already had his violin, ready to play. "Just so you know, my song's in 6/8 time, too, so don't judge it too badly."

He jumped right into his song, which was fast and upbeat in a way that reminded Link of a folk song. Yet at the same time, it felt powerful in the same way that Melody's song had. Link thought he felt his hair being blown back as if by the wind at points in the song. Like Melody's, it had a couple of timing issues, but it was just as good. Link and the rest applauded once it was done.

Of course, as is often the case, an awkward silence followed after that, with nobody really sure what to do or say. Eventually, it was Greenie who found a proper outlet for conversation, as he turned to Zelda and asked, "Say, Zelda, what's your instrument? I saw you talking to Mrs. Anjean, but she didn't give you one."

Zelda smiled. "Oh, I play the lyre, like you, Melody, but it appears that there are not any left. I would bring my lyre from home, but it is much too expensive for me to do so. So instead, I'm in the vocal program."

Greenie grinned. "Cool! Could you sing something for us?"

Zelda frowned thoughtfully at this. "I do know a few songs, but they all must be accompanied by another instrument, usually the lyre. And I must admit, it has been quite some time since I've performed those songs, so I've forgotten how the lyre part goes."

"Oh, so another time then?" Greenie asked.

"Yes," Zelda agreed. Just then, the bell rang. "Another time."

The five of them walked together (although Link and Zelda still kept their distance) to their last class of the day – history. Along the way, Greenie and Leif assured Zelda that it would be great – after all, almost everyone in the school agreed that the teacher, Mr. Gaebora, was the best instructor in there.

"It is strange, the name Gaebora," Zelda muttered. "I feel as though I've heard it before..."

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Melody told her.

As they walked into the class, both Link and Zelda couldn't help but notice something odd about Mr. Gaebora – an elderly, owl-like man – and the way his eyes kept darting toward Zelda every now and then. It wasn't in a perverted way, like with Mr. Banker. Instead, the teacher looked almost... alarmed.

However, that didn't stop him from teaching in his usually wordy but still exciting way, and by the end of the class, and the school day, the five of them left in high spirits. "Well," Zelda said, "today has been fun, but I really must be going. I will see you all tomorrow, right?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Of course!"

"Yup!"

Only Link didn't respond, but he doubted Zelda would mind. After all, in her eyes, he was just a "worthless peasant."

Once she was safely out of earshot, Link confided in his friends, "I'm so glad she's gone. She's been driving me insane all day."

Unfortunately, his friends didn't appear to share in his sentiments. Instead, they seemed offended. "Link!" Melody hissed. "Why would you say something like that?!"

"Well, she has!" cried Link! "She called me several different variations of the phrase 'peasant!'"

"That's just her way of showing affection," Greenie piped up.

"Yeah," Leif agreed, wiggling his eyebrows, "her _special,_ one-on-one way of of showing affection to you, Link... I mean, did you see the way her face reddened when she gave you a genuine compliment?"

"It was quite red," Melody agreed. "Redder than a tomato, even."

"If that's not a sign of a crush, then I don't know what is," Leif continued.

Link's cheeks grew hot. Could Zelda have a crush on him? No, no, that wasn't true. Zelda had treated him like the scum of the earth that day. There was no way she could have a crush on him...

...Could she?

* * *

Unbeknownst to all of them, however, they were not alone in their conversation. From behind a house, two wrinkled old women knelt, listening to their every word, and watching them intently. These women were identical in almost every way. They had the same wrinkly green skin, the same long nose, and the same long, black robe. However, the one on the left had flaming orange hair, and a bright red crystal on her forehead, while her twin had icy blue hair, and a deep blue sapphire on her head.

Both of these women were focused on only one part of the passing students: their pointed ears. Once the children had rounded the bend, they both turned to each other excitedly.

"Could it be, Koume? After all of these years?" the blue witch whispered.

The red witch, Koume, nodded discreetly. "It has to be, Kotake. There has never been such a high concentration of Hylians in the world for the past 600 years! We must not waste anymore time. Tell Lord Ganondorf that we, his oldest and most loyal servants, have located the Temple." She let out a quiet evil laugh, before abruptly stopping. "Actually, no. Leave out the part about us being the oldest." She then proceeded to continue her evil laugh.

* * *

 **A/N: So, that's Chapter 2. Yes, I know it was mostly just mindless school fluff, but I had to establish Zelda's relationships with everyone else. And also, while there will be a smidgeon of Zelink, it won't be the main focus. They're twelve, for Nayru's sake.**

 **Also, some stuff for those who might not like how Zelda is kind of a jerk, and were not satisfied by my in-story explanation: she _does_ have a tiny (for now) crush on our not-yet-green-clad elf boy, but she's trying to hide it. Now, part of it is her real personality, but usually she's not that toxic.**

 **(Now, I think I might need to stop writing for awhile. I've literally written for about six hours over the course of the past two days, and somewhere along the line, I went from envisioning Zelda's voice as Pacifica's from Gravity Falls to Rey's from Star Wars Episode VII. Send help.)**

 **~I Am A Toad**


	3. An Assembly of Magic

**A wild update appeared... two months overdue!**

 **Thanks to symcmahon for following!**

 **Onto the reviews!:**

 **Undertario: Aw, thanks! :)**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own LoZ. If you thought I did, then you are sadly mistaken.**

* * *

 _Chapter III: An Assembly of Magic_

Unlike the day before, Link got a full night's sleep – but perhaps a little too full, for when he woke up that morning, his alarm clock read 7:43, which meant that, even if he ran to school at his top speed of about eight and a half miles per hour, without once pausing, he would have, like, one second to get ready for school.

...That was a rough estimate.

Panicking, Link threw on one of his many green shirts and beige pants, and, not bothering to brush his messy blonde hair, sped out of the room. In the dining room, Grandma Master was trying (and failing) to shove an extra-extra-large container of sunscreen into Aryll's already-bloated, sky blue backpack. Link could also spot his sister's telescope in there.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, Grandma... what are you doing?" he questioned awkwardly.

The old woman, not once looking up from her task, grunted, "If you give me a hand with this sunscreen like any elder-respecting grandson would, I might consider telling you."

Link rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but he went to help his grandmother anyways. In the end, he was pretty sure he crushed Aryll's homework or something, but, with her grades, it wasn't like it was crucial or anything.

...Probably.

"Okay," he said, "now that that's over with, would you mind telling me why we had to get it over with in the first place?" Grandma shot him a pointed look. "Please," he muttered under his breath.

The feeble old woman nodded approvingly. "That's better," she told her scowling grandson. "Now, if you weren't such a forgetful oaf, you'd remember that today's the day your sister is going on her little field trip to the history museum over in Ordon."

Ordon was a larger city about two miles away from Aboda. Of course, hardly anyone in the town ever went there unless it was either really interesting, or really necessary. That was partially because nobody in Aboda actually even had a job outside of the town, but it was mostly due to the fact that the townsfolk didn't own any cars, and were unwilling to pay the two-dollar fee that came with the bus between the two cities.

"Uh... why would I bother to remember something that doesn't involve me, my friends, or food?" Link questioned skeptically.

"Because," answered Aryll, who had conveniently appeared from the depths of the bedroom, "after we're done at the museum, the museum staff are going to host an assembly at your school, and we're coming with them!"

Horror dawned on Link's face.

"By the way, Big Brother," Aryll said slyly, "you do know that it's already 8:01, right? You'd better hurry if you want to get to school on time."

Even more horror dawned on Link's face as he grabbed his backpack and raced out the door. Aryll and Grandma watched the horror continue to dawn on him as he scampered down the street.

* * *

Link crashed into his seat the moment the first period bell rang, breathing a long sigh of relief at having made it on time. However, that relief quickly dissipated upon viewing the sight that was on his desk: two extremely fancy shoes belonging to none other than Zelda Nohansen herself. The rich girl was once again swiping away at her phone, which wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the fact that she was using Link's desk as a footrest.

Still, remembering how his friends treated Zelda nicely the day before, Link decided to try to replicate that. "Hey, Zelda," he began awkwardly, "would you mind moving your feet somewhere else? I kind of need my desk."

Zelda slowly and deliberately looked up from her phone. Her eyes were not the energetic periwinkle-blue eyes he'd seen when she was interacting with the others – instead, they were a rather dull and lifeless shade of bluish-gray. "Unless you can pay me in cash exactly four hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, yes. I do mind," she said emotionlessly. "And I would ask that you learn your place and not speak to me again."

Link was rather disturbed by this turn of events. It wasn't because of her bluntness or her harshness, or her refusal to do something as menial as moving her feet off of his desk. To be honest, he'd kind of expected that. What had startled him was how robotically she'd said, as if all of her emotion had been forcefully leeched out of her body. The day before, her words had been rude, yes, but also dripping with sarcasm. He was going to comment about it, but remembering that she literally had enough money to retire at age eighteen, he wisely decided not to.

The next few hours were an interesting sight to watch if you were Link. This was due to the fact that Zelda's outward personality had changed dramatically over that period of time. At first, she had seemed like an emotionless robot, but after interacting with all of Link's friends, her personality had slowly yet surely begun to appear more akin to that of the day before.

The only difference was that she still seemed a lot more distant – sometimes she wouldn't notice when someone was calling her name, and sometimes she would just stare at that person blankly. But other than that, she seemed to be normal enough.

At last, it was time for the assembly. Not that Link was excited in any way at all for it, seeing as Aryll would be there, but Leif and Melody were chatting excitedly about it, with Greenie and Zelda listening politely. But at least they seemed to anticipating it.

"Alright, children," Mr. Gaebora called out, "line up in an orderly fashion so that we can all go and attend this helpful and informative hour-long assembly that I'm sure you won't be bored by at all!" The class groaned, and after they were done, the teacher continued his announcement. "At the assembly, you are free to sit wherever you wish, as long as it's in one of the chairs. You are allowed to get up, but only to ask a teacher a question or to go to the bathroom. There is to be _no_ talking while the speakers are giving their speech, are we clear?"

"Yes, Mr. Gaebora," the class murmured. Of course, they didn't actually mean it, but it wasn't like they were actually going to say that to their teacher's face.

As they arrived in the assembly, the first thing Link noticed was that aside from his class, the only people there were two nearly-identical old ladies and one much younger girl on the stage whom he presumed were museum employees, and the children from Aryll's school, all scattered about the seats. Aryll was waving to Link, and gesturing for him to sit down next to her, which he grudgingly did. Greenie took Aryll's other side, and Melody and Leif both sat next to Greenie. Zelda sat next to Link, though she didn't look happy about it.

As the minutes crawled by, more children from other classes began trickling into the auditorium, most looking bored, but Link could see a few that seemed genuinely excited. Link, of course, fell into the category of those who were bored, and it was in that boredom that he failed to notice some odd details about the two old women on the stage: namely, their pointed ears, their wrinkled skin that was such a peculiar shade of brown that it could have been green, and the giant crystals on their foreheads. These oddities, however, did not slip past the others, and Aryll leaned over to whisper to Greenie, "What's up with their foreheads?"

It was Melody who responded, chastising, "Don't be rude. They're probably just accessories, or... something." She didn't look entirely convinced.

Leif, of course, piped up at the entirely wrong time, "I'm kinda with Link's sister on this one. I mean, look at their skin! There's no way that's normal!"

"Says, the person who has pointed ears," retorted Melody.

"Hey," protested Leif, "you're one to talk! You have pointed ears, too!"

"And that's why I don't make it a point to point out other people's oddities," Melody responded wryly.

"Uh... Well... I..." Leif struggled to think of a decent enough comeback. "Come on guys, help me out here," he stage-whispered.

This prompted differing reactions from the other four. Greenie shook his head, silently telling the rest of them that he didn't want any part in their petty bickering. Aryll looked like she wanted to help, but seemed to be having trouble coming up with a good enough response. Link looked like he had just woken up, which in actuality wasn't too far off from what had really just happened. And Zelda, for some odd reason, suddenly looked very upset, before wordlessly rising from her seat and going over to Mr. Gaebora, presumably to ask to go to the bathroom. However, rather than going to the bathroom, Zelda instead ran outside of the auditorium, and into the main hallway of the school.

The five of them shared looks. What had happened caused Zelda to be provoked so easily? Eventually, Link got up and jogged after Zelda, with Greenie following closely behind. Melody and Leif stayed behind to watch Aryll (and, in Melody's case, the actual presentation, seeing as she was one of the few students who had exhibited any real excitement towards the thing.)

The two boys exited the room just as the lights in the auditorium dimmed, revealing an imposing figure in a red robe that completely covered everything except for his eyes, his nose, and his hands. His skin was a sickly shade of bluish-gray, and his nails were so sharp that they almost looked like claws. "Greetings, students," the man said in a scratchy voice. "I am Agahnim. I'd assume that you are all here for the demonstration, am I right? Ho ho ho."

The other students nervously laughed along with him, unsure of what to make of this odd man. "Very well," said Agahnim. "Before we begin, I will need three... volunteers to help me. Would anyone like to come up?"

The students didn't respond, as none of them wanted to be anywhere close to Agahnim – not even those that had been excited for the assembly. "Oh, what a shame," Agahnim lamented. "I guess I'll just get to choose who volunteers. How about..." He made a spectacle of wildly gazing across the room, making exaggerated "hmming" noises every so often. "How about you three," he called out suddenly, pointing directly to Melody, Leif, and Aryll. "Yes, come on up here," he encouraged.

The three reluctantly did so, though the unexplainable sense of trepidation that they had been feeling sense Agahnim first walked out on to the stage was stronger now than ever.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Link and Greenie walked into the hallway, the first thing they noticed was the sound of sobbing. The second thing they noticed was that the sound of sobbing they had noticed was emanating from Zelda, who was curled up in fetal position with a puddle of tears surrounding her. The third thing they noticed was that the lights in the auditorium had dimmed, but that was besides the point.

"Uhh... Zelda?" Greenie called, taking a tentative step forward.

The distressed girl looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, even though it had been, at most, two minutes since she had run out of the auditorium. Link was about to question this logistical paradox, but realized that he didn't exactly want to have an existential crisis in the middle of the seventh grade, so instead he simply asked her, "Are you okay?" He then came to the realization that she was clearly _not okay_ , so instead he questioned, "What's wrong?"

"Why are you trying to help me?" Zelda muttered quietly, although it was still quite easy to detect both venom and confusion in her voice.

Now Link and Greenie were confused. "...What do you mean?" Link inquired.

"I mean," Zelda said loudly, getting to her feet, "why are you trying so hard to get to know me? What's your motive? Is it for my money? Do you want to kidnap me? Hmm?"

"Can't we just want to be your friends? Can't it be from the goodness of our hearts?" Greenie pleaded.

"Oh, don't make me laugh." Zelda smiled mirthlessly. "My father taught me a long time ago that there's always an ulterior motive for everything. I'm sure you're all just waiting to stab me in the back." Suddenly, her demeanor shifted. "But that doesn't explain why I... want... to get to know... YOU! GAH! I don't understand! Why can't you just leave me alone? If it wasn't for you, everything would be so much simpler!" Zelda looked ready to tear her hair out. She uttered a crazed, desperate laugh as she sank onto her knees. "...What would father think if he knew I actually wanted to make friends with the likes of you...?"

Link and Greenie shared concerned glances, neither one knowing what to do. Finally, Greenie walked up to Zelda. "Look," he began, "We're sorry for any trouble that we've caused, but... we can help you get through this, I promise. And we can do it together." He held out his hand, which Zelda reluctantly took as she wiped away tears.

"Well," Link exclaimed, "now that that's over with, maybe we can finally get back to-" Before he could finish his sentence, a large _BOOM!_ shook the school. "What the heck was that?!" Link shouted.

"It came from the auditorium!" Greenie replied. "Come on, let's go!"

The three of them rushed into the auditorium, only to find a very strange sight: a blue-skinned man garbed in red robes stood on the left side of the stage, with the unconscious bodies of Melody, Leif, and Aryll suspended in midair next to him. He was flunked by the three women from the stage. On the other side of the stage was none other than their history teacher, Mr. Gaebora. Somehow, all of the light in the room seemed to be attracted to him, making him look like he was bathed in a warm glow. They hid behind one of the walls.

"Let those children go," Gaebora commanded in a strange language that the three found they could comprehend perfectly. "They have no idea of their true heritage – their magic is weak, I am sure of it."

 _Magic?_ , Zelda mouthed to the two boys, who shrugged in response.

The man laughed an evil laugh that chilled all to the bone. "Don't be so sure, descendent of Rauru. I can feel great power emanating from all three of these Hylians. Their magic rivals that of even you, Sage of Light. I would be willing to bet that some of them are even Sages themselves." Gaebora's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "Funny how a man who claims to know so much of his people's history is not even aware of when powerful Sages are right under his nose. I bet that you don't even know who I am."

"I know that your name is not Agahnim; that you are an imposter who hides behind the name of another! The true Agahnim died for your foul purposes!" Gaebora shouted defiantly. "I know that you are simply another dark wizard who wishes to bring about the destruction of this world!"

"You are correct," the man admitted with a demonic twinkle in his eye. "But you also couldn't be more wrong." Without warning, an tornado of pure darkness surrounded the man, so much so that not even Gaebora's light could pierce it. By the time it dissipated, the man had transformed. His skin color had changed into the same shade of green as the two old women, though his hair (and newly acquired beard) was a fiery shade of red similar to that of the young girl beside him. He wore ornate black armor, and a torn blood-red cape. On his forehead was a yellow crystal. "I am Ganondorf Dragmire, Prince of Darkness, King of the Gerudo, Guardian of the Desert, Champion of Din, and the rightful owner of the Triforce of Power! And once I obtain the Triforce, this world will be mine!"

Now, Link could see something in Gaebora's eyes that had not been present before: fear. Not just fear, but complete and utter terror. Whoever this Ganondorf guy was, he was not someone to be trifled with. However, despite this, Gaebora still stood tall, although there was a noticeable tremor in his voice. "You will never win! The Triforce will never be yours! The Hero will defeat you!"

Ganondorf's mouth curved into a malicious smirk. "But you are not the Hero, are you?" He snapped his fingers, and all of the light surrounding Gaebora left him as the teacher was lifted into the air by some invisible force. Ganondorf walked to the center of the stage, and all four of the floating bodies began to circle around him. "Now," he addressed the frightened crowd, "allow me to give you a taste of what this world will be like once I am through with it." He lifted his hands as they began to crackle with dark energy. Simultaneously, the four bodies around him each began to glow with a different-colored aura – brown for Melody, dark green for Leif, light blue for Aryll, and white for Gaebora.

The bodies began to convulse as the crackling in Ganondorf's hands grew louder and louder. "Aryll!" Link screamed, unable to control himself. Fortunately, at this point, the rest of the student body was so frightened that nobody noticed him.

Once Ganondorf's hands were filled with so much dark energy that they weren't even visible anymore, he thrust them into the ground, imbuing it with darkness. Suddenly, the earth seemed to shake, and the ground began to change, starting from where Ganondorf had struck the ground. What had once been the stage had transformed into red, sun-baked earth. The carpeted floor of the auditorium was slowly suffering from the same fate.

But that had nothing on what happened to the students at the school. Link, Zelda, and Greenie watched on in terror as the children and teachers were slowly transformed into hideous beasts. Their skin became a variety of different colors, from purple to orange, and their stance became hunched over. Their clothes became filthy rags, and they grew piglike noses. Their mouths became filled with fangs, and their ears became long and pointed – not elven like Link and his friends, but more goblin-like. They grew a single horn and pointed tail each, and their fingers and toes transformed into claws. Most disturbing of all, however, was the fact that their now-yellow eyes held no feeling whatsoever except for pure malice.

"Th-that is all kinds of messed up!" Greenie cried.

Suddenly, the entire building began to shake, and dust rained down from the ceiling, followed by larger debris. The school had begun to collapse. Zelda immediately leaped to her feet. "Come on, you two!" she cried. "We can't just stand around; we have to get out of here!"

Greenie stood up to join her, but Link stayed frozen in place. "I'm not leaving without Aryll," he stated, gesturing to his sister, who was still floating behind Ganondorf.

"If you don't move this instant, you won't be leaving _at all_ ," Zelda countered bossily. Just then, a large chunk of whatever school ceilings are made from fell inches from Link's face. " _See?_ " Zelda emphasized.

"I'd rather stay here and fight for my sister's life than run away and leave my sister with that maniac," said Link with complete seriousness.

"Link, think about this," argued Greenie in a considerably less bossy voice than Zelda. "If you die here without saving Aryll, what good will it do?"

Something in Link's eyes softened a bit, but he remained persistent. "I wouldn't want to live with the knowledge that I just left Aryll here without doing anything about it."

It was then that Greenie decided to play his trump card. "What would your grandma think if two of her grandchildren died before she did?"

Suddenly, Link jumped to his feet, all of the stubbornness in his eyes replaced with panic. "Guys," he said, "our families are still out there. We can't let them turn into monsters, too!"

"My parents are on vacation in the Bahamas," Greenie told them. They'll be fine. Probably."

"And my father left for a very important political meeting this morning," Zelda stated. "He won't be back until five days from now."

"My grandma's still in Aboda, though!" Link cried. "And worse, she probably has no idea what's going on! We have to save her before she turns into a monster!"

"Dude, relax," reassured Greenie. "If we haven't turned into monsters yet, that means that we have plenty of time... to..." He faltered as he gazed upon the ground: red, dry earth.

It was then that they realized that Ganondorf's dark magic had already completely engulfed the school (where it had left only but a few walls, including, conveniently, the one they were currently hiding behind) and was eating away at the surrounding houses. Despite the fact that they still had not been turned into monsters yet, they panicked.

This turned out to be a very dire mistake, as their panicking alerted Ganondorf to their presence. "What?" he snarled. "More Hylians? Get them!" he shouted to the monsters. Every single monster within the ruins of the school suddenly swiveled around to face them. The group proceeded to panic once again, although this time they made good use of it by utilizing the adrenaline rush that came with it to escape to a completely random direction (which, conveniently, was the fastest way to Link's grandma).

After running for a few minutes, they realized that a) they were already outside of the dark spell's reach, and that b) it was quite literally moving at a snail's pace, which meant that they could quite literally take an hour to get to Link's grandma's house, and still have time to spare. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief. "That... was a close one," Greenie summarized for all of them.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the spell heard them, because the moment the final word left Greenie's lips, the magic began consuming everything ten times as fast. "Run," Zelda gasped. The other two nodded their heads in agreement before whipping around to follow Zelda, who was already sprinting away from the rapidly approaching wave of dark magic.

"There's no way that we can outrun this thing!" Link cried as the spell pulled ever closer to him. He cursed. "You know, it's really inconvenient how nobody in this town owns any cars!"

Zelda scoffed. "Oh, please! It's not like this is some cheap 80's action movie where we can just hijack a car to escape! We're twelve! We can't even drive!"

"Maybe we don't know how to drive," Greenie yelled, "but I'd be willing to bet that we all know how to ride a bike!" He pointed to a nearby sidewalk, where three teens were rather stupidly leaving their bicycles leaning up against a wall as they walked inside a store.

The three of them steered themselves towards the bikes, where they, with some difficulty, got onto the bikes without losing too much speed. "Sorry!" Greenie called to the three teenagers, who by now were probably already turning into goblin creatures.

"Uhh... guys?" Link called as he looked behind him. "I don't think those teenagers really liked that we took their bikes." The other three looked behind them, where they saw a horde of monsters chasing after them (albeit, all within the boundaries of the spell). The mob was led by three very irate-looking creatures that seemed to be more intent on catching the runaway bicycles than the runaway children on the runaway bicycles. As the spell consumed more of the town, the amount of monsters steadily increased.

"How are they running so fast?" Zelda questioned incredulously. Just then, a spear whizzed past her, narrowly missing the tire on Link's bicycle. "And since when did one of them have a deadly weapon from the Middle Ages?"

Link looked behind him once again, and was met with the rather startling sight of a couple hundred monsters all holding a variety of severely outdated weapons, including spears, swords, wooden spiked clubs, and the occasional flaming torch. "Uhh... it's not just one of them who has a weapon now," he informed the others. He tried to steady his nerves by thinking of something positive. "Well... it's not like they have cannons," he supplied.

Just then, a deafening _boom!_ was heard, followed by the sight of a cannonball hurtling over their heads. "Oh, come on!" Link complained, looking back to see the sight of a giant wooden cannon with four monsters sitting on top of it. Just then, the cannonball crashed a few yards ahead of them, forming a huge pothole in the middle of the asphalt.

"Swerve left!" Greenie yelled as they came upon the impact site. They all veered to the left, narrowly missing the hole. They would have sighed in relief, but several more _booms!_ informed them that it was far from the end. "Left! Right! Middle! Right! Right! Left! Middle! Left! Middle! Middle! Right! Left! Left! Middle! Left! Right! Left! Right! Middle! Right!" Greenie instructed as they came upon the landing sites of each cannonball.

Abruptly, the stream of cannonballs stopped, which prompted Link to look behind him. He found that the boundaries of the spell, while not necessarily far away, were still distant enough for the monster army to stop trying to rain fiery balls of death upon them. However, he didn't dare slow down, as he would need all the time he could get if he wanted to get his grandmother out of there in time. Not to mention, if he slowed down now, the monsters would probably start shooting again, which was not desirable, to say the least. He did, however, allow himself to unleash an unsteady sigh of relief. "I think we lost them," Link muttered, mostly to himself.

The three of them rode on to Link's grandma's house in an uneasy silence, none of them wanting to jinx their good fortune so far. "How long do you think we'll have for this?" Greenie inquired worriedly.

Zelda gazed out to the horizon, where the town was rapidly being consumed by the faraway, yet swift, magic. "I'm not sure. Maybe a minute, at most," she estimated.

"Okay," Link said, mentally preparing himself for the task. "Greenie, you come with me in case my grandma's being stubborn." Greenie nodded, and they ran inside.

They found Grandma making her special soup in the kitchen. "Oh, Link, Greenie," she greeted. "You two are here early. Where's Aryll?"

Link, instead of answering the question, instead told the elderly woman, "Listen, there's no time to explain, but we need to get out of here _right now._ "

"What's the matter?" Grandma asked, an expression of concern growing on her wrinkled face.

This time, it was Greenie who responded, "Please, Mrs. Master, we'll explain everything on the way. Just please trust us for now."

"If you insist," Grandma agreed hesitantly. "Just let me get a bottle for this soup."

"Guys," they heard Zelda say from outside, "I estimate that we only have about twenty-five more seconds!"

"There's no time for this!" Link snapped. "Come on!" He grabbed his grandmother's arm, and made to yank her with him.

However, before he could do that, Grandma had already slapped him away. "Now, is that any way to treat your grandma?" she reprimanded harshly, shaking her finger at him.

"Fifteen more seconds!" Zelda cried.

"Grandma, I'm sorry for this," Link told the elderly lady.

"Sorry for wha-" was all that Grandma Master got out before Link draped her over his shoulder. "Hey! Put me down _now,_ young man!" she shrieked as she was brought out of the door, and stuffed into the front basket of Link's bicycle. "Oof!"

"Let's get out of here!" Link shouted as he and the others picked up speed. It was just in the nick of time, too, as it was no sooner that they had left that the dark wave worked its magic on Link's house, reducing it to rubble.

It was also then that the monsters began firing their cannons again.

"GAH! Why won't these things just _leave us alone_?!" Zelda shrieked.

As soon as she said that, the monsters stopped firing their cannon. "Wait... what?" Zelda exclaimed, stopping her bicycle.

"Look! The spell's stopped!" Greenie cried, pointing at the remains of the town. Sure enough, the red earth that marked the edges of the destruction had stopped spreading – ironically, exactly on the border between Aboda and the forest that separated it from other cities. They were safe. For now.

" _ **LINK MASTER!**_ "

Well, most of them were safe.

On the other side of the road, Grandma Master was pulling on Link's ear so hard that they were sure it would fall off. " _Would you mind telling me what that was about?!_ " she roared, livid at her grandson.

"..." Link said nothing.

" _Well?!_ " Grandma bellowed. " _I'm just dying for a good explanation here!_ "

"Uhh... a murderous green psychopath kidnapped two of my friends, my literacy teacher, and Aryll, turned everyone in the town into monsters, and we are currently the only survivors," Link supplied meekly.

Grandma looked confused. Link took her silence as an opportunity to change the subject (kind of). "But hey," he told her optimistically, "at least the spell stopped! Now we can just call the police and have them rescue Aryll for us! After all, it's not like we can't get back into town, or anything-"

Just as he said that, a large, mustard-yellow crystal flared to life in front of them, completely cutting off their access to the town. Link's eyes widened. "No," he whispered. "Nonononononono!" He banged on the crystal, but to no avail. " _ **ARYLL!**_ " he cried in anguish.

* * *

Ganondorf collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. That spell that he had performed would have been as simple as lifting a finger back in his glory days, but now, he had needed the magic of four powerful Hylians just to terraform one tiny section of the earth. It had taken the rest of his energy simply to erect a simple barrier. He needed more power if he ever wanted to defeat the Hero. Specifically, he needed the Triforce.

 _But first..._ he looked disdainfully at the four bodies laying at his feet. Their lives were so insignificant and trivial; it was infuriating that they were so needed to his plans. However, he observed that their magic levels were halfway back to normal, whereas his were barely beginning to recover. His lips curled up in a malicious sneer.

He tapped into the magic levels of the two most powerful – the two adolescents. One reminded him of the earth; the other of the sky. Both of their souls felt older that their appearances suggested. There was no doubt about it – these two were the Sages of Earth and Wind. He grinned once more. These two would be perfect. Attaching their magic to his own, he envisioned a tower fit for the goddess of power herself.

Black bricks rose out of the earth. Stairs materialized out of nowhere, leading to dizzying heights. Soon enough, the tower was complete – just as he remembered it from long ago.

Standing on the newly-created obsidian floor, he beckoned to his three henchmen, and pointed to the Sages on the floor. "Take them to their temples. Make sure they don't escape," he instructed. The three Gerudo females nodded, and dematerialized out of the room.

He grabbed the wrist of the smallest one. She seemed so unassuming, yet he could practically feel the way the Hero loved her radiating off her body. There could only be one explanation. "I've finally found you... Princess."

* * *

 **A/N: I apologize for the extreme delay in between updates. I blame school, which is probably the most-used excuse on this website. But hey, it's summer now! Which means that updates might actually be consistent for once! Crazy, right?! :0**

 **Also, I changed what I imagined Zelda to act like again. Now I can't help but imagine her as acting like Peridot from SU. That's the character that inspired Zelda's... breakdown, by the way. Oh, well. This is just how I imagine Zelda to act like under stress. She probably won't act this way most of the time.**

 **Also, in case you didn't know, Zelda is the Princess, and Aryll isn't Zelda, so Aryll isn't the Princess. Ganondorf is just really dumb and apparently thinks that any girl with pointy ears is automatically Zelda, as long as they aren't already a Sage. At least, that's what it seems like in Wind Waker, but it's literally impossible for this story to take place in the adult timeline seeing as that's the only timeline in which Ganondorf is killed off for good, so I'm not sure if that really counts...  
**

 **...I'll stop my rambling now.**

 **~I Am A Toad**


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